You Can Breathe, But the Air is Running Out
by Nighthawk-Moonshadow
Summary: Originally posted to LJ. JD runs into the Janitor at a bar, and a little late night adventure ensues. Slash.


It started with a penny.

Well, actually, to be specific, it was twenty-five pennies: twenty-four deposited, almost lovingly it seemed, into a jukebox by a member of the Sacred Heart janitorial staff, and one in the pocket of a doe-eyed resident with as many nicknames as cats had lives.

How the Janitor had ended up at the same bar as him on that Friday night, JD would never know. All he knew was that the guy was looking at him, scary 'you-are-going-down-Scooter' face on, and JD wanted to run and _oh my god he's coming over! Abort! Abort!_

Unfortunately, JD didn't have time to flee before the other man was standing before him.

"I have only one request, Scooter. Fulfill it and I won't hang you from the rented crane in the parking lot tomorrow."

"I have children!" JD yelped, curling away from him. "They need their father!"

"Liar."

"How would you know?"

"You live in a shitty little apartment with Bald Doctor and Scary Latina Nurse and a stuffed dog."

"How did you-"

"Do you really want to know?"

"No," JD said glumly. "What do you want?"

"Do you have a penny?"

JD grinned; reaching into the back pocket of his jeans (did the Janitor's eyes follow his hand?) In a moment he had produced a shiny copper coin.

"Looking good, Mr. Lincoln!" he said, giving the head a wink.

The Janitor swiped it out of his hand and gave a nod of thanks, twirling around (_like a pretty ballerina…) _and walking back towards the jukebox. He tossed the last coin in and pressed a few buttons. The Pixies flowed from the wall speakers.

JD kept his eyes on the Janitor, watching the man lean back against the bar and sip down his beer, Adam's apple bobbing up and down slowly. Apparently, the other man sensed this, because he swung his head around, giving JD a glare.

"Do you need something?"

JD froze, trying to come up with an excuse. "Um, same beer brand!" he said, waving his bottle merrily and giving a wide smile. He was surprised when the other man cursed and slammed his own bottle down.

"Great, another activity I enjoy that's ruined by you. Why do you insist on making my life miserable?"

"B-but I-"

"Zip it Scooter," the Janitor said, pressing fingers to JD's lips (_hmmmm, he's got soft hands for a Janitor. Wait, what?_) "You can't fix it now. In fact, you've ruined my whole evening by throwing off my rhythm. Guess it's another night of poker at home with Chippy for me…" he got up off the stool and turned, walking towards the door and mumbling something about 'damned chipmunks and their bad habits of eating cards.'

JD stood stock still for a moment, sputtering nonsensical sounds angrily as he watched the Janitor leave. Then a light bulb clicked on in his head.

"Hey!" he shouted, running out after the other man. He burst out into the chilly April air (_argh! I forgot my jacket inside! Nice going, J-Dizzle_) and sprinted up to the Janitor, who was already across the parking lot, unlocking the door to his truck (_damn he's fast!_). The other man watched JD, amused as the kid bent slightly to catch his breath.

"What do you want now?" the Janitor asked, leaning sideways against the door. JD gave him a slight glare before standing up straight and continuing.

"Why do you always blame everything on me?" Alright, now he was whining. Not the best reaction he'd ever had.

"I mean," he continued, trying not to sound like a petulant child, "Do I really do anything that annoys you that much?"

"There's a list."

"A what?"

"A list," the Janitor said, smirking, "of things you do to annoy the crap out of me. Every time you do something, I put a check on the list, and find a way to get you back. It evens out that way."

"But I don't even know what I'm doing!" Crap, he sounded whiny again.

"That's alright Scooter, you don't have to know, I'm the one whose keeping track!" he was giving JD a look that said 'you can't win this fight.'

After a few more guttural sounds of frustration, JD gave a sigh and slumped slightly. "Fine, be that way."

He turned to leave, but then thought of something. Maybe he could win this?...

"A different brand?" he asked, turning back to face the Janitor. The other man perked up at the voice and stopped lowering himself into the truck, pausing to give JD a questioning look.

"If I buy you a different beer brand, will that stop your evening from being completely ruined?"

The Janitor contemplated for a moment, and then grinned. "No, but I know something else you could get for me!"

Oh shit, this wasn't going to turn out well. "…And what exactly is that?"

The Janitor pointed inside his truck. "Come on, I'll show you."

"But I came here on Sasha, I don't wanna-"

"Either come or get locked on the roof tomorrow in nothing but a towel. Your choice."

Not feeling up to standing naked and freezing for possibly hours outside any time soon, JD grumbled and walked over to the Janitor, brushing past him and sliding into the truck. The Janitor hopped in next to him, already whistling a merry tune (_how can anybody change moods that quickly? Is he bi-polar or something?),_ and started up the engine.

"Where are we going?"

"Just stay quiet and enjoy the ride. You've got cash on you, I'm guessing?"

JD groaned. Oh boy, this was going to be a long night.

()

Two hours later, and they were parked on top of a grassy hill next to an overpass, greasy paper bags that had been filled with hamburgers and French fries discarded into the truck bed. After driving them to a roadside fast food diner, the Janitor had annoyed JD by ordering both of them a late dinner that cost a _lot_ more than a beer would have (it would have been cheaper if JD himself hadn't gotten anything; he wasn't really hungry, but the Janitor had insisted that he needed to try the food, and he figured that if it kept the man from getting mad at him again, it was worth it).

Now they were sitting on top of the truck roof, eating their burgers and watching the skyline. The Janitor was also playing around with a tiny pocket telescope, and JD couldn't help but watch him.

"What are you looking at?"

"Ursa Major," the Janitor said, surprisingly without any malice or sarcasm in his voice. He bit into his burger but kept his eyes trained on the sky, looking like a kid watching a movie in a theatre. "The Big Dipper is looking pretty bright tonight."

"You star watch?" JD asked, trying to recognize any constellations. Considering he hadn't looked at a star chart since the 5th grade, he wasn't very good at it.

"What, do you think I spend my entire time mopping floors and torturing you?"

"Generally yeah, I thought that took up most of your time."

The Janitor turned, looking like he wanted to snap back a retort, but softened his expression slightly when he saw that JD was grinning at him.

"Well, while that does take up a good ninety percent," he said, turning back to the telescope and adjusting the lens, "the other ten percent is spent in activities like this."

"When do you sleep then?"

"Maybe I don't sleep," the Janitor said, smirking slightly. "Maybe I'm a vampire."

"It would explain why you're so obsessed with dead things."

JD was surprised when the Janitor chuckled at his joke, and felt a bit of happiness from managing to make him actually laugh. They lapsed into relatively comfortable silence, until the urge to see what exactly Janitor was looking at got too great.

"Can I see?"

The Janitor gave a sigh and looked up. "You'll keep annoying me until you get to, so why not?"

He scooted closer (too close, but JD ignored the violation of personal space) and handed him the telescope.

"You break this and you'll be hanging in front of Kelso's doorway by your boxers."

Oh crap, and he was giving JD the serious look too. JD gulped and nodded before putting the telescope up to his eye and peering through.

"So, what exactly am I looking for?"

"Stars, most likely."

"Har har," JD said, giving a mocking laugh. "Seriously, I'm interested!" He didn't know why he cared so much that the Janitor believed him on that, he just did.

He jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his back, but let himself relax into it as he felt the Janitor grasp the end of the telescope and direct it towards a certain way.

"You see that bright star group with the three stars bunched a bit together and the other four in a box shape above it?"

"Ya huh." Wow, the Janitor's hand was really warm. It was pretty nice, being that it was chilly out, so he leaned back into it slightly.

"That's the Big Dipper. Look to the right a bit and you can see stars branching out, and then look up above those to find more stars that can connect to form legs. That's Ursa Major, people usually call it the Great Bear."

"Heh, I can sort of see it now! Cool!"

JD jumped slightly when he felt the Janitor's breath brush against his ear as the man leaned in. "Not bad for your first try, Scooter."

JD snuck a peek over to see that the other man had leaned close to him, probably to get the same view he had, and was now gazing upwards, a contemplative look on his face, and seemingly unaware of the major personal space violation he was committing.

"So do you do this a lot?" JD asked, ignoring the nervous flutter in his stomach and turning his sights back to the sky.

The Janitor gave a noise that JD translated to mean 'yes.' "I like coming up here, it's the best place near the city for doing this, though it's never clear enough to see some constellations, so sometimes I take trips out into more rural areas where the smog isn't as bad."

"I've never heard Troy or you or anyone else at the hospital mention that. How come? It seems like something you wouldn't mind sharing, if you let me, of all people, do this with you."

"You all never bothered to ask."

JD turned away from the telescope to look at him again, and this time, the Janitor's face was still gazing up but tinged with sadness. _I guess no one really ever pays attention to him because he's the janitor… no wonder he does that stuff to me, it's the only way he gets attention…_

Apparently the Janitor had noticed that he was being watched, because he turned to look at JD, a curious expression on his face. JD felt his cheeks redden as he realized their faces were way too close and gave him a grin, pulling back slightly (and noticing that Janitor took his hand off of JD's back, though he really noticed only because it was so warm and felt nice there) and holding out the telescope. "Well… I think it's pretty cool. Thanks for taking me out here."

"Eh, you had the burger money, so I didn't have much of a choice" the Janitor said, giving him a slight smirk. But as the other man turned his eyes back to closing up the telescope, JD thought he saw embarrassment flushing on the Janitor's face slightly.

()

The overpass was a few miles out of the city, and the Janitor didn't seem to be much of a talker (he'd been engaged in the food on the way there, so they didn't have a chance to speak), so the ride back was relatively quiet. JD reflected that he'd been wondering whether the Janitor had been planning to kill him (but why would he buy him a burger first?) out in the middle of no where when they'd left the city limits, but the evening had turned out a lot better than he'd expected.

He chanced a glance over at the Janitor, and was happy to see that the other man wore an expression that wasn't as grumpy as normal. _No one should ever be that grumpy_, he thought, watching him for a few moments.

But it made a bit more sense to JD now. He knew that the Janitor hung out with a lot of the people on the Sacred Heart staff (he'd asked Dr. Cox multiple times about his beer meetings with the man to see if he could find out what the Janitor was going to do to him next. Usually Dr. Cox told him to go away or he would find himself in a painful position). But that didn't necessarily mean he was very friendly with any of them. And considering how most people looked down on custodial workers, he could see people not wanting to associate themselves with the Janitor and giving him a lot of crap about it. _But if he changed jobs, then he wouldn't be 'the Janitor'; what would I call him?_

But JD hadn't even ever bothered to ask what his real name was, had he? He was just as bad as the rest of them. He had never really bothered to find out anything about the other man. Sure, he knew a few stray facts, but if somebody who worked with (well, around) the Janitor a lot wasn't even too informed about his life… JD thought that was a little sad.

"Something on my face, Scooter?" JD snapped out of his daydreaming to see the Janitor looking at him, quirking an eyebrow. He grinned, embarrassed that he had been caught staring, and shook his head.

"Naw, nothing."

"If you're lying to me, I'm taking you down."

It only took a second for JD to realize the man was joking, and gave a laugh as he realized that the Janitor was mimicking the same words he'd said to JD on his first day at the hospital. He reflected that if nothing else, the Janitor had certainly made his life much more _interesting_.

It was cold, and JD cursed the fact that he'd forgotten his jacket back at the bar. _I'm glad I paid the bar tender for my drink, maybe he'll be nice enough to not let anybody steal my jacket and give it back to me the next time I go…_

"Hey, do you have heat? I'm kinda an idiot and forgot my jacket."

"It's quite obvious you're an idiot, you didn't really have to emphasize it."

JD stuck his tongue out, but the Janitor just rolled his eyes and reached behind the seat, throwing a leather jacket into his face. After a mutter of thanks, JD wrapped it around himself, enjoying its warmth and the pleasant smell it was imbued with. _Smells like… heh, smells like him I guess. It is his jacket after all_.

The jacket's warmth made him grow groggy, and in a few moments he had drifted asleep.

()

A bump in the road jolted JD back into consciousness. After a moment of disorientation, he realized that he was lying against something soft, and froze when he realized he was using the Janitor's side as a pillow. _Oh shit, please tell me this is just a bad dream…_

Why wasn't the Janitor killing him? Why wasn't he being thrown out the window? He glanced upwards to see an upside-down Janitor not even paying him much mind and concentrating on driving. He didn't mind? What was up with that?

Apparently, the Janitor didn't even notice that JD had woken up, and was making no moves to push him away. He was gripping the steering wheel a bit tightly, and did seem a bit stiff, but JD chalked it up to some other tension the man was feeling. Though he wasn't sure what else could be making him tense up right now.

And now he was humming? He hummed a lot at the hospital; did he do that a lot when by himself? JD was wondering why he wanted to know that, when he saw the Janitor take his right hand off the steering wheel.

But instead of moving to push JD away (as he was sure that was the Janitor's intention), JD felt fingers curl into his hair, and stiffened in surprise as they brushed back and forth gently. _Oh my god_. The Janitor was playing with his hair? What was this freaky parallel universe that JD had stepped into? What subconscious reaction was the Janitor performing, and how had JD caused it?

JD's body tensing up had not gone unnoticed, and he watched the Janitor rove his eyes downwards until they were staring at each other; both pairs wide in a mix of confusion and shock.

"Uh, you should probably keep looking at the road," JD whispered, quiet as a mouse.

The Janitor seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in, and nodded, turning his eyes back upwards. Now they were in an interesting situation, and JD found that he had no wish to move from the spot he was in. He kept wondering why his body wasn't sitting up and moving away to give the Janitor the proper amount of personal space, but it didn't seem to want to cooperate.

And the Janitor hadn't moved his hand away from JD's hair. He wasn't moving it around anymore (not that JD wanted him to), but it was still there, and it was warm, and the gentle pressure it had on his scalp felt so _good_… and now he was freaking himself out.

Why did JD feel like he was missing some very important puzzle piece here?

()

They only moved from their positions once they had arrived back at the bar. It was late at night, almost early morning, and the place was deserted, save for a few cars passing on the street. JD sat up with reluctance (no, he wasn't reluctant, that was stupid) and looked around, spotting Sasha parked in a corner.

"Nobody stole her, woohoo!"

"Ya know, being happy that someone didn't steal your little bike doesn't say much for how good you are at normally keeping anything from happening to it."

JD gave him a grin, oddly too happy to snap back at the sarcasm. "I, uh… thanks for this, it was fun." And now the Janitor was giving him a funny look...

"I guess I'll be goaaaa-!"

Apparently, he wasn't going anywhere. Janitor had lunged, pressing him down onto the seat and staring down at him.

"Please don't kill me; we were having such an enjoyable time!" JD squeaked. "What did I do?"

The Janitor's face split into a grin. "You are such a tease, Scooter," he said, before leaning down and brushing his lips against JD's.

And JD could do nothing but lay there, shell shocked. When the Janitor pulled back slightly, watching to see how the kid would respond, all that JD could do was make confused, monosyllabic sounds and stare up with a kind of fascination.

'You see," the Janitor said, giving him a smirk, "between all the body signals you've been giving off tonight," – now he planted a kiss on JD's throat – "and the fact that you're inhumanly cute at times," – he pressed himself down against the kid, who moaned as he felt a hand skirt down his chest – "and the fact that I haven't been able to get you out of my head in weeks," – oh god, that mouth was doing _amazing_ things to him – "I've got myself quite a dilemma." He finished up by pulling himself up and away to lean over JD again, the same damned sure-of-himself smirk on his face.

But the body contact was gone, and JD would have none of it. He reached up; grabbing the lapels of the Janitor's collar and pulling him back down into a breathy kiss. He moaned in pleasure as hands roamed up and down his sides, and moved his own hands upwards to grip into the Janitor's back. Oh god, what had gotten into him? What was he doing? He was making out with the Janitor!

Yet, frankly? He didn't care. This was enthralling, and JD savored every taste and touch and movement, cataloguing it in the back of his mind. The apocalypse could've been happening outside of the truck at that very moment, and he would've kept concentrating on the feeling of the Janitor's mouth on his own.

When they broke away, breathless and panting, JD stared up into glazed over, lust filled eyes, and wasn't that the most beautiful thing he had ever seen?

"Where-," he asked, catching his breath, "where does this leave us?"

After the Janitor had calmed down slightly, he stared at JD, seeming to contemplate this turn of events.

"The question is, where do you want to go with this, Scooter?"

"I'd like to start off with you coming back down here to continue what you were doing before." JD replied, a toothy grin on his face. The Janitor chuckled, but to JD's disappointment, sat back and pulled him up into a sitting position.

"Unfortunately, I have floors to mop, and you have sick people to cure in the morning. We're going to have to leave it at this for tonight." He grinned as JD's face drooped. "Heh, I'm surprised you aren't cheering at being able to escape," he said, giving the kid a wink.

"Well that kind of changed when you pushed me down on the seat and made me need a long, cold shower when I get home."

The Janitor just shook his head and smiled. "Go home and sleep, Scooter. I'll molest you more tomorrow."

JD grinned and turned, opening the other door and hopping out. He gave a little wave as the Janitor drove away, then turned and walked over to Sasha. Before he got on her, however, he glanced up into the night sky. There was Ursa Major again, he noted, a warmth spreading in his chest.

He really should go star watching more often.


End file.
